Category: Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 15.18. After filling in the SW corner at lightning speed, with two helpful anagrams at 18 and 21 ac to start things going, I ground to an abrupt halt and plodded through the … Read more “Times Crossword 24166”

Solving time : 23 minutes. I thought I was going to get to do this quickly before a rehearsal last night, but that didn’t happen and when I got in it was too late so … Read more “Times 24165 – a catch, a hitch, a moon and some stinking fish to cry over”

15:21 for this – quite a tough challenge, with plenty of original wordplay and not too much of a knowledge test. My first answer was 15A, and the hardest part was the NW corner, with … Read more “Times 24164 – tough but good”

As always, mileages may vary, but I found this very straightforward and zipped through it in around ten minutes. A nice puzzle for the less experienced, less challenging for older hands, but certainly nothing to … Read more “Times 24,163 – Starter for Ten”

Solving time: 53 mins Took a while to get into this and a few clues needed quite a bit of thought. I think there were some really good ones, though, and plenty to smile about. … Read more “Times Cryptic (Number 24162)”

Solving time: 4:30 I found this very much at the easier end of the ST spectrum and should have recorded a faster time, but got a bit stuck on 21ac (CLIPPER), 18dn (UNIT COST) and … Read more “ST 4317 (Sun 22 Feb) – Blunder squirts”

This one took me about 45 minutes having got off to a slow start. I kept thinking of answers or parts of answers but was unable to complete or explain them. Eventually I settled down … Read more “Times 24160”

Solving time : With many distractions, about 25 minutes and I hope I get this blog in before the internet here dies or my laptop does. Some tricky subtraction clues in this one, so let’s … Read more “Times 24159: Hav I go word fo yo!”

9:33 for this – so pretty much average difficulty. This is a slightly disappointing grid, with no very long answers, but it does have every answer-length from three to ten letters. Wordplays read well throughout … Read more “Times 24158”

Solving time : 35 minutes I really liked this puzzle which has a goodly number of smoothly worded clues and at times quite complex wordplay. I can’t say that anything particularly held me up and … Read more “Times Cryptic 24157 Not So Elimentary Watson”